The Lonely Hearts Club

The three of us looked at each other before we started laughing again.

If this was what it was going to belike being single for the rest of my high school existence, I wasn't going to mind at all.

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chapter twenty

"HEY, PENNY -- IT'S RYAN ."

I stared at the number on my phone -- why was Ryan calling me? it was Tuesday night, and I'd just seen him at school a few hours before. the fact that we'd been having surface-level conversations ever since the dance made it even stranger to hear his voice now,

"Hello? Pe

Speak! Say something.

"Ah, yeah -- hey, Ryan, what's up?"

"Not much. I had a question about History. I think I wrote down the wrong chapter we were supposed to read. is it chapter twelve?"

"Hold on, let me check. ..." I had to run over to my desk to grab my book.

"Crap" A surge of pain shot up my left toe as it slammed into the leg of my chair. This was just great. "Yep, chapter twelve."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Are you okay?"

Apparently I was not okay. "Yeah, I'm fine -- stubbed my toe. ..."

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"Okay, thanks, Pe

Ryan was talking really fast for him, so it took me a second to comprehend what he was asking.

He wasn't asking me on a date, was he?

Of course he wasn't. that was stupid. He was dating that short, curly-haired thing.

I was his friend. His Beatles-named friend, no less. it made sense for him to ask me out on a non-date to see a Beatles-ish band.

"Hello? Pe

Oops.

"Um, sounds great,"

I could still be friends with guys. Ryan and I had always been friends, and there was no way he would see me as anything else. What had he said at Paul's party? "I'd never do anything with her."

"Awesome," he said now. "Diane told me your parents are against tribute bands or something, but she thought you might get a kick out of it."

Diane knew! Why hadn't she given me a heads-up that Ryan was going to ask me .. on ... some sort of social outing.

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I cleared my throat. "I think it'd be fun. thanks for thinking of me."

"Of course! I think it'd be cool to go to a tribute band with none other than Pe

Ugh.

"So I guess we can figure out the details later, but I figure we can head into the city early and grab a bite before the show. Does that sound okay?"

"that sounds great, Ryan. See you tomorrow."

I hung up the phone and just stared at it.

then it hit me, I had agreed to go to a Beatles tribute band concert with Ryan Bauer. Now I had to tell the one person who was going to absolutely hate this idea.

"Oh, Pe

This was going to be harder than I thought.

I sat down at our table. "Come on, Mom, it's not that big of a deal."

Mom set her coffee mug down and looked at me like I had a second head. "Pe

Dad stopped hiding behind his paper and set it down. "Now, Becky, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. At least she's interested in learning about her heritage. And I think we should trust Pe

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will be hearing is nothing compared to the real thing. Remember how embarrassed she was with the massacre at Lucy's graduation?"

Yes, I'd been mortified at Lucy's graduation, but unfortunately it was my parents who'd been the weapons of mass humiliation. Some poor graduate sang a not very flattering rendition of "Yesterday" and my parents almost walked out of the auditorium. they even refused to clap. it wouldn't have been so bad if the guys parents hadn't been sitting right next to us, recording the whole thing. I'm sure they appreciated watching the video with my parents' commentary track: "Ewww, all wrong. . . . Why do people feel it necessary to tamper with a . . .. there is only one Paul McCartney and you, child, are no Paul."

"Ah, yeah, Dad, it was awful." t got up and started unloading the dishwasher. thought that maybe that would help get Mom in a better mood.

"What do you say, Bees?" Dad reached across the table and squeezed my mothers hand.

"Oh, okay . . ." Mom looked defeated.

I tried not to laugh as I opened the top cabinet to put the glasses back in place.

"Oh, cheer up. Remember, we have coming in a few weeks!" Dad tried to get Mom to smile.

"that's right.' Pe

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I tried to blink a few times to regain focus as I felt the glass slip from my hand. there was a crash on the floor. I looked up and saw a shocked look on my parents' faces.

they hadn't just said . . .

"Oh, Pe

I couldn't even begin to explain.

this was a nightmare.

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chapter twenty one

I WAS STILL IN SHOCK THE following morning. I sat in a daze outside while I waited for Tracy to come pick me up. After the horrific news from the previous night, I needed my best friend more than ever.

Tracy's car turned on Ashland, and I practically ran out into the street. The car didn't even make a complete stop as I opened the door and got in the passenger seat.

"Wow, someone is excited to get to school," Tracy observed,

"You're not going to believe what happened last night!" My voice was quivering, on the verge of a full-on breakdown.

"Whoa, what on earth is going on, Pen? With everything that has happened the past couple of weeks, I'm sure it cant be that bad!'

"Oh, really, really, really, I think you might want to pull over for this."

Tracy pulled the car over and I told her the news. the words felt like they'd been festering inside of me for weeks instead of hours.

"What?!!! How come you didn't call me?"

"I left about fourteen messages."

Tracy reached into her purse and started swearing as she turned on her phone.

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I went on. "I just, I just. . . it's so awful. I don't want to see him again. What am I supposed to do?" tears were starting to form behind my eyes.

"You mean besides kill him? What exactly did your parents say and did you tell them that that creep is not welcome in your house?"

I shook my head. "Of course I didn't say that. You know my parents have no idea what happened this summer with Nate. Sometimes I swear that they're so clueless,"

"Okay, give me the outline of what happened, and then I'm going to call an emergency meeting of the Lonely Hearts Club at lunch so we can come together and help you out."

Not only was I having the worst morning of my life, but I was also going to flunk out of school.

Luckily, Tyson had been assigned to be my lab partner for our fetal pig dissection, and he seemed to know biology as well as he knew punk rock. I must've been in a state, because even he picked up on my mood.